It is known to provide a solid state lighting apparatus, such as one including Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), that operates in response to a rectified ac voltage. In some conventional lighting devices, segments of the LED string can be separately biased so that as the magnitude of the rectified ac voltage increases, additional segments of the LED string can be forward biased so that light is provided in a sequentially increasing manner. Moreover, as the magnitude of the rectified ac voltage signal decreases (i.e. passes 90 degrees of phase) the separate LED segments are deactivated in reverse order. Accordingly, in some portions of the rectified ac voltage cycle, none of the segments are forward biased, which can be referred to as a “null time interval” when no light is emitted by the string.
It is also known to couple a dimmer switch (such as a phase cut dimmer switch) to an LED lighting apparatus so that the intensity of the light emitted by the apparatus can be adjusted.